Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany will support Turkey’s European Union accession process in exchange for Turkish help in stemming the refugee influx to Europe.
Hundreds, even thousands, of refugees and migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq cross daily the sea and land borders of Turkey and land to Greece on their way further north to Europe. The EU wants to have more asylum seekers stay in Turkey.
At the same time, the Greek government has expressed concerns over the dozens of refugees drowning in Greek waters trying to cross to Europe in rickety boats provided by people smugglers on the coasts of Turkey.
Merkel visited Turkey and met with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and later with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday. The German Chancellor said Germany could help accelerate the path to visa-free travel to the EU for Turks and push forward Ankara’s protracted EU membership talks. Also Turkey will get financial aid to accommodate the refugees.
In return, she said she expected Turkey to agree to take in migrants sent back by the EU, so-called “readmission agreements” that Davutoglu has said he will sign up to only if there is progress on liberalizing the current visa policy for Turks.
The leaders of Turkey and Germany agreed there could be no lasting solution to the migration crisis without resolving the conflict in Syria, from where more than 2 million refugees have now fled to Turkey.
